This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

The Wisdom of our Elders, The Folly of the Young

The old axiom about learning from one's mistakes gets inscribed on the hearts of almost anyone who manages a cattle operation in very short order. That's because it seems like, no matter how much time and effort you put into managing your operation more efficiently, you end up making a plethora of mistakes, which then leads up to a whole lot of knowledge.

If only someone would have told me how much I could have learned from others when I was 16, and/or fresh out college, I could have avoided so many wrong turns and screw-ups. Yet, thinking back, I'm sure someone did; I just didn't listen.

For instance, the older generation told us the kids would grow up too fast; to enjoy them while we could. I just nodded and smiled. Now that we're approaching the halfway or 1/3 markers in that journey with our own kids, I realize all those folks were bestowing on me the benefit of all their experience and maybe their regret.

Last weekend, I spent a pretty cool day with my eldest son. I pray it's a day he'll never forget; it's certainly a day I'll never forget. To see the passion in his eyes almost made me want to burst. I always knew my parents loved me, but I never knew how much until I had kids of my own; it was simply a point of reference I could not understand.

I'm sure someone told me when I went off to college that it wasn't about the information. It was about learning to learn, building your network, finding mentors, creating a resume, and all of that. But somehow I couldn't take it to heart. I had to work for a while to realize I wanted to go back to graduate school to make up for those shortcomings.

Someone said you have to learn to think and act like a millionaire before you can become one. I think there's something to that. And that, to me, is the cruelest thing about the good advice we get -- we're rarely at the right point in our lives to both hear and act upon it simultaneously.

All I know is I'm going to listen a lot more, especially to those who have already been down the road I want to travel. Here's hoping you can live this upcoming week, in a way that will please your maker and yourself, and that will be built upon all the wisdom of the past.-- Troy Marshall